Before the arrival of the Four Seasons, the Windsor Arms and the Hazelton, the Park Hyatt Toronto was the hotel for the wealthy elite. For many of them it still is, and its placement in Toronto’s poshest neighborhood guarantees that it will be for some years to come.

The wealthy man is typically an older man, and the Park Hyatt Toronto was built and is serviced with him in mind. It’s grand, it’s classic, and in some areas its age shows. So if you’re a moustached young hipster with a weakness for boutique hotels, this is not the place for you. If, however, you’re a classy young gent looking to snazz it up for a weekend in Canada’s biggest city, it may be. And the Park Hyatt’s placement between Toronto’s shopping and museum districts allows sophisticated options for both the splurge and the spendthrift.

The Park Hyatt Toronto sits right on the southwest corner of Yorkville -- the Magnificent Mile for Canadians. If you’re the splurge, this is the place to do what you do. Rolls-Royce, Zegna and Bulgari all have outlets in the neighborhood, and if your lady is along for the ride, Louis Vuitton and Montblanc outlets await her.

Maybe you’re not the splurge. Maybe this all sounds a little terrifying. If that’s the case, there are less expensive but equally highbrow ways to spend one’s time here. The Park Hyatt Toronto is also smack in the center of the city’s museum district; the Royal Ontario Museum is across the street, and the Art Gallery of Ontario is a walk to the south. Also within walking distance are a shoe museum and a ceramic art museum. Neither sounds like a day at the track, to be sure, but the spendthrift will prefer the boredom of a shoe museum to the thrills (and chills) of watching his girlfriend explore the Chanel boutique.

The Park Hyatt Toronto is comprised of two towers. The north tower is the newer of them; the original south tower was constructed in 1936 and remains one of the city’s best examples of Art Deco architecture. Gorgeous though she may be on the outside, the south tower’s innards show the wear and tear of time. This was especially visible in our bathroom, with its loose faucet and limp shower pressure. These are relatively trivial flaws, but in a hotel chain that bills itself as 4-stars +, ones that could and should be quickly remedied.

The Park Hyatt saves face in the public spaces. The lobby is sprawling, clean and staffed with smiling concierges. The in-house spa is among the city’s best. And the 18th-floor rooftop bar is the kind of young and cool space that one doesn’t find in most rich (read: stodgy) neighborhoods.